Combined vacuum cleaner and disinfector



web; 24. 1925. E. E, RIORDAN COMBINED VACUUM CLEANER AND DISINFECTOR Filed July 51 1922 ATTORNEYS Patented F eh. 24. 1925.

EDWARD EUGENE BIOBDAN, F LMA, OHIO. GO VACUUI CLEANER IIHISIN'FEC'IIOB. i

application nea my a1, 192s. serial m. 578,777.

To all wh'am it may concern.' 1 p Be it known that I, EDWARD EUGENE RIORDAN, a citizen of the United States and a resident of Lima, in the county of llen i and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Combined Vacuum Cleaners and Disinfectors, of which the ol-v lowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in 1.0 combined vacuum cleaners and disinfectors,

and it consists in the combinations, construcf tions, and arrangements herein described and claimed. H

An object of m invention is to provide 1l a disinfector whic may be readily secured.

Ato an ordinary vacuum cleaner, whereby the vacuum cleaner is also adapted to disinfect the room as it cleans the same.

A further object of my invention is to $0 provide a device of thecharacter described which haa Anovel means fordisinfecting the l carpet of the room.

A further object of my invention is toV provide a device of the character described @i in which the strength of the disinfector may be varied atswiil. l

A. further object of'my invention is to provide a device of the character described in which the 'disinfected air is forced into so the ber of the carpet or rug, thereby thoroughly disinfecting the same. l A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character described.

which is simple in construction and which 8l is durable and eicient for the purpose intended. A

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification, and the novel features of the invention will be parso ticularly out in the appended claims. :j: My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, forming part of this application, in whichci Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device as shown operatively applied -to a vacuum cleaner, portions of the away,

Figure 2 is a pian view of the device, M Fi re 3 is a sectional viewv of the disinctor,

Figure is a modiied form of the device, and

. Figure 4 is a ditic view ofthe evice .being broken Adevice shown' operatively-l4 connected to' a closet.

'In carrying out my invention, I make use of an ordinary vacuum cleaner which is shown diagrammatically in Figure 1 and which comprises a suction mouth 1, a fan 'actuating motor 2, a guiding' handle 3,`and

a dustbag 4. The suction mouth 1 has an intake opening 5 which is in communication with the fan of the motor (not shown) and also in communicationwith an outlet pi e 6. The bag 2 is connected to. the pipe 6 by a couplin 7 The 'parts heretofore described areor mary in construction and form no part of my invention except in so far as they coo crate with the parts about to be described? I have only mentioned and shown the arts which needbe named in describing t e operation of the device.

I then provide a liquid container 8 which is adapted to hold a Adisinfectant such as formaldehyde therein. The container 8 is provided with a cover 10 which closes the inlet'opening of the container. A valve 11 controls the amount of duid passing through the outlet of the container and is regulated.

by .a handle 12,- whereby the amount of liquid passing from the container is varied at will. A heating pan 13 is disposed beneath the valve 1I and is adapted to receive the disinfectant as it drops therein. This heatin pan .has resistance wires, indicated genera. y'at 14, disposed therein, these wires being in electrical connection with the source of current. It is obvious that when the motor 2 is Started, the current will also ow through the wires 14 and heat the pan 13, thereby evaporating the liquid which drops from the casing 8. Inthis mannery the air surrounding the pan 13 is thoroughly disinfected. The disinfecting attachment is also shown diagrammatically. It is obvious that it may be secured to the sweeper by an) means. V The special construction of the disinfector and the attaching means, may be changed for different types of standard .sweepers without departing Jrom the spirit bag, for dieinfecting the surface over which i the swee er is moved.

. The air which escapes from the bag 4 is conveyed back over the pan 13 and out into the ber .of the carpet or rug which the sweeper is cleaning by a novel means. This means comprises a bag 15 which encloses the bag 4. A pipe 16connects the bag'15 with the compartment 17. The compartment 17 houses a pan 13.` From this construction it will be apparent that the air passing from the bag 4 is conveyed over the pan 13 and is thoroughly disinfected. An outlet pipe 18 communicates with the compartment 17 and terminates adjacent to the opening of .the pipe 5. The pipes 5 and 18are of the same width as is clearly shown in Figure 2.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, theopera-tion thereof may bereadily understood. The casing 8, together with the pipe 18 and the pipe 16, is disposed upon the suction head 1 and is secured thereto by any means (not shown). The'bag 15 is disposedl around the bag 4 and is placed in communication with the compartment 17 by connecting it to the pipe 16. The vacuum cleaner is now operated in the ordinary manner and draws the air through the pipe 5 and forces it into the bag 4. The bag 4 retains the greater portion of the dust which is in the air` but it is obvious that some of the dust will escape with the air as itpasses out of the bag 4. The bag 15 prevents the air from passing therethrough and causes the air to flow through the pipe 16 and into the compartment 17. The valve 11 has previouslybeen regulated so as to determi-ne the amount of disinfectant iiowing into the pan 13 so as to provide the proper amount of disinfectant to theair as it passes from the pipe 16, through the compartment 17, and into the pipe 18. The small amount of dust in the air is also deposited and it will therefore be apparent that the air iowing out through the pipe 18 is entirely cleaned and is thoroughly dismfected. The openings of the pipes 5 and 18 are adjacent to one another and are disposed directly above the carpet or iloor 19.

A, great portion of the air-sucked into the pipe 5 is drawn directly from the .air that 1s expelled from the pipe-18. This air in passing from the lpipe 18 to the pipe 5 is forced 'through the tiber of the carpet or the rug and, thoroughly disinfects the same. In this' manner, the carpet. or rug is eectu ally disinfected. i Y

In disinfecting-a room with the ordinary means, it ispractically impossible to also? disinfect the carpet. This' is due to the factthat cold air currents are constantlyv m0171705 across the H001' Pd *lus PlBVBDl'Tswitch v,22.7 controls the electricity passing -the disinfectant from coming lnto contact" with the licor. In moet cases, the disinfectant comes within about Atwo or three inches of the `floor and `cannotpenetrate any further.- The carpet is`one of the most Y neceary things to disinfect in a sick room.

With my present device, this is readily .and easily accomplished since the disinfected air is expelled directly above the carpet and isforced through` the fiber by the intake of the pipe 5. It is obvious therefore that the The device also cleans the floor as it dis- 1 infects, thus performing a two-fold function.

`device provides' an eicient means fordisinfecting the floors of sick rooms or the like. I'I0 of the device pictured in the accompanying drawings may be provided without depart.- ingl from the spirit and vscope of my invention as disclosed in the foregoing specifica tion and set forth more particularly in the appended claims.

In Figure 5 I have shown a slightly modi fied form of Athe device in ywhich the ordi-` nary dust retaining bag 4 is done away with and the air ywhich is exhausted from the suction head 1 is conveyed directl to the disinfecting compartment. This of the device is identical with the form heretofore disclosed, except for the above mentioned differences. Similar parts will therefore be provided with like numerals and will need no further explanation. A pipe 20 communicates with the intake pipe 5 and with the compartment 17. In the former form of the device, the pipe 6 was substituted for the pipe 20 and was in communication with the bag 4. By placing the compartment 17 in direct communication with the intake pipe 5, all of the air is lconveyed directlyf to the compartment 17. vIn this case all of the dust in the air is deposited in the compartment 17 and the pure and disinfected air is expelled through the pipe 18. The same operation takes placejas disclosed. in the preferred form of the device. and thedevice will therefore 'et' fectually disinfect the oor of a room. By disposing the disinfector on the vacuum cleaner, I provide a device which is portable and which may therefore be readily conveyed from room to room to disinfect the oors of thev latter. The device is exceedingly simple in construction and performs a useful function.

The pi 16! and 20 are preferabiv pro- ,"'dellY with a `valve which .controls the amcuntof-:air passing into the compartment 17, and expels the excess air into the room. In the drawings I have shown such/a valve 21f5as being disposed inthe pipe v16. The

infect a closet 23 or the like. inlet pipe' 24 communicates with the top of the closet and with the devlce, while an exhaust plpe 25 communicates with the bottom of the closet and with the device. In this manner,

the air Within the' closet is thoroughly disinfected. v

I claim:

1. The combination with a vacuum cleaner having a suction nozzle, and a dust bag, of a bag disposed around said dust bag, a disinfecting chamber carried by said cleaner and in communication With said second named bag, and a pipe leading from said chamber and terminating adjacent to the intake nozzle whereby the-disinfected air is brought into contact with the supporting surface.'

2. The combination with a vacuum cleaner having a suction nozzle, of a disinfecting chamber in communication with said nozzle, a reservoir adapted to carry a li uid disinfectant, a heating pan under sai reservoir adapted to change the liquid into a vapor,-` a

infector comprising a 'bag inclosing said .first named bag and adapted to receive allof the air that passes through said first named bag, a dislnfecting chamber communicating with said second named bag, a

heating pan disposed in said chamber, a reservoir disposed above said pan, a Valve controlling the flow vof a disinfecting liquid from the reservoirto the pan, a second nozzle in communication with said chamber and terminating adjacent to said irst namedv nozzle whereby the suction in said first named nozzle Awill draw the air passing out through said second named nozzle.

EDWARD EUGENE RIOEDAN. 

